Off-Broadway Production of Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly Completes Roundabout's 2012-13 Season

By Andrew Gans
05 Sep 2012

Director Michael Wilson
Director Michael Wilson
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Todd Haimes, artistic director of Roundabout Theatre Company, announced Sept. 5 that a new Off-Broadway production of Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Talley’s Folly, directed by Michael Wilson, will complete Roundabout's 2012-13 theatrical season.

The limited engagement will begin performances Feb. 8, 2013, and open March 5, 2013, at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).

Casting will be announced at a later time.

Talley’s Folly, according to press notes, is a "funny and heart-warming play about finding love when you’ve nearly given up looking. At the end of World War II, Matt Friedman, a Jewish immigrant who has spent his life keeping others at a distance, returns to the small town where he first met Sally Talley. Nothing like her conservative Protestant family and neighbors, Sally is a nurse with deep misgivings about the country’s future. After a lifetime of believing they’ll never truly belong in the world around them, Matt has worked up the courage to ask Sally for her hand, and convince her that they do belong -- together."

In a statement Haimes said, "I’m thrilled with how our 2012-13 season has come together. As the final piece to be announced, Talley’s Folly is a perfect fit. This intimate revival from one of our great American playwrights, Lanford Wilson, provides just the right counterpoint to the sprawling period romance of Cyrano, the ensembles of Inge’s Picnic or Odets’ The Big Knife and the unique musical style of Rupert Holmes’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Joining Talley’s Off-Broadway this season, we have new plays from the exciting young British writer Nick Payne and from homegrown playwright Steven Levenson, who was first produced through our Roundabout Underground program. It is very exciting to put together a season with such variety, that features talent both familiar and new, and consistently offers the audience the kind of enduring themes and stories that have come to define Roundabout.”

In the Laura Pels Theatre this season, Talley’s Folly joins Nick Payne’s If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, which is currently in previews, directed by Michael Longhurst, and features Annie Funke, Michelle Gomez, Jake Gyllenhaal and Brían F. O’Byrne. In the late spring following the limited run of Talley’s Folly, Steven Levenson’s The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin, directed by Scott Ellis, will begin performances.

At Studio 54, Rupert Holmes’ musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood will begin performances Oct. 19 starring Stephanie J. Block, Will Chase, Gregg Edelman, Jim Norton and Chita Rivera. Scott Ellis directs.

At the American Airlines Theatre beginning Sept. 14, Cyrano de Bergerac will begin performances on Broadway starring Douglas Hodge, Clémence Poésy and Patrick Page, directed by Jamie Lloyd. Following that, Sam Gold’s production of William Inge’s Picnic will begin performances in January, and then Doug Hughes’ production of Clifford Odets’ The Big Knife, starring Bobby Cannavale, will begin in the spring.

The sixth season of Roundabout Underground also launches this fall with Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews, directed by Daniel Aukin.

To join Roundabout visit www.roundabouttheatre.org or call Roundabout Audience Services at (212) 719-1300. Tickets for all fall productions are also available at the American Airlines, Studio 54 and Laura Pels box offices. Single tickets for Talley’s Folly will be available this winter.